Kindness Rules!

Kindness Rules!
by Marilyn Mackenzie


A few years ago, I had the opportunity to be amongst a large group of 6th graders from a public school nearby. What amazed me about them was how unkind they were to each other. I guess since I home schooled my own son from 4th through 12th grade, and since most of his contacts, at least in the early years, were other home educated kids or kids from church, I never realized how different children had truly become than "in my day."

I suddenly realized that the reports I’ve heard about how television, movies and video games have influenced the kids around us were true. Many kids have turned into something not so nice. And unlike days gone by when most people could say, "I can’t dislike a child," I think it would easier to do so now. How sad that is.

I’m not saying that kids in the past were angels or always thoughtful. We certainly were not. But there did seem to be a line that most would not cross in teasing or ridiculing, and that line seems to have disappeared.

The world has certainly changed. I suppose the line has been crossed in adult relationships as well. While in the past, no one would have even considered suing their neighbors, people are now suing their own mothers. What is wrong with that picture?

There was once a time when everyone followed The Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

Grandma used to talk about the good-old-days, and for some of my relatives, her longing for days gone by grew weary. I hate to think I’m following her footsteps, that I might make a nuisance of myself thinking that the past was better than the present. But in many ways it certainly was. People respected each other!





Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love. Kindness in ourselves is the honey that blunts the sting of unkindness in another. Walter S. Landor